Talk:Poetry of Maya Angelou/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: D ARTH B OTTO talk•cont 04:52, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Comment #1 - As a man of literature who has read and enjoyed Maya Angelou's works, I will do my best to do this in a manner that does not tread into the territory of a book report too much!

Comment #2 - Oh, I see that you are participating in the WikiCup. Well, as an act of courtesy, I should declare myself as a contestant, as well. That being said, I am glad to be of assistance!


 * 1) It is reasonably well written.
 * a (prose): b (MoS):
 * 1) It is factually accurate and verifiable.
 * a (references): b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR):
 * 1) It is broad in its coverage.
 * a (major aspects): b (focused):
 * 1) It follows the neutral point of view policy.
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) It is stable.
 * No edit wars etc.:
 * 1) It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
 * a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/Fail:
 * With that, I am satisfied with the state of this article. Congratulations, Figureskatingfan and enjoy your new thirty points! ;) D ARTH B OTTO talk•cont 05:50, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Wow, this was the easiest GAC ever!  Thanks, and good luck you you too. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 17:41, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Lede

 * The section begins with "although". I would strongly suggest starting out with Angelou's name to kick off a biographical sentence about her specialty, then go from there.
 * I tend to avoid references in a lede, but since this is a quote, I suppose it is acceptable.
 * " Her poems are more interesting when she recites and performs them, and many critics emphasize the public aspect of her poetry." This sentence frankly sticks out as a sore thumb of being non-neutral and subjective. It should be removed.
 * Other than that, this introduction is exceptionally well-written and thorough. It is slightly longer than I am accustomed to, but having read this article, it serves its purpose.

Background

 * Discussing her rape at the age of eight seems to be presented as a passing thought, rather than a poignant event in her life. There may be a better way to draw the correlation of this being causal between X triggering Y.
 * Okay. I broke up the thought to make it stronger. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 17:41, 3 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Mentioning the amount of written material by her a day should be done in a written-out form.
 * This section is overall solid and not excessive in detail.

Poetry

 * Everything seems to be in order, with a decent degree of overview and proper ISBN cataloging. Good job!

Themes

 * I was going to suggest the first paragraph is general themes be merged with the subsequent one, but upon further review, I believe it is sufficient on its own.
 * The the dialect of African Americans should be applicable to all other races, not of.
 * Describing her 38 poems should be written out without numbers.
 * Done.


 * Italics on Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie.
 * With the mention of the review of Angelou's third volume And Still I Rise, it should be described that Blundell finds Angelou's poems similar to speech patterns and songs the most effective, rather than having a comma mess. What I'm saying is a more direct form would be the most ideal.
 * Broke up the two sentences to make it clearer.


 * Ensure that all mentions of Angelou's poems, including Diiie, are in italics.
 * I checked, and I think all instances are right. Remember, though, according to WP:MOSTITLE, that individual poems have quotes around them, and books are italicized.  Most of Angelou's poetry volumes (like Diiie) are books, so they're italicized, but poems like "On the Pulse of Morning", have quotes.


 * I'm most accustomed to "African American" rather than "American Black". However, considering the connotations of Heart of a Woman, it's about the color, not the heritage.
 * Bloom uses the phrase "American Black" so I used it here, but Neubauer does not, so I changed it to "African American" at his mention.


 * Following the comma at the tail end of the mention of "One More Round", there is a space missing. I can make the correction, however.
 * These are mostly minor changes. For the most part, this is very well-written.
 * Thanks for fixing stuff. I like it when reviewers go ahead and fix the minor issues.  I mean, it feels like such a waste of both our time when the reviewer writes out the sentence he or she wants fixed, when he or she could just fix it him/herself.  Or you could just say, "I found some minor issues that I went ahead and copy-edited if that's all right with you." Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 17:41, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Critical reception and response

 * While mentioning the autobiographies, I'd give it possession, rather than simply state "Angelou" autobiographies, so it will say "Angelou's autobiographies".
 * This section seems to be missing punctuation and grammar. It could do with a read-through.
 * There is inconsistency with the mention of African Americans, as a key example.
 * I've read through the section, and haven't found many of the errors you mention. Could you be more specific?  Regarding the use of "African American" vs. "Black/black": its usage across all the Angelou articles in WP depends on how the sources use them.  Often they're used interchangeably, since that's how the sources use them.  When using my own voice, I try to follow Angelou's practice, which is "Black".  See this  for the explanation.

Closing comments

 * Alright, this page is very much together and close to GA status. Allow me a few minutes to make some minor corrections, then I can bring out the review criteria and judge it accordingly.
 * Again, thanks. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 17:59, 3 January 2014 (UTC)